


everything will be okay (i promise)

by bloodyhalefire



Series: 100 ways to say i love you [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Forehead Kisses, Hurt/Comfort, I CHANGED THE TITLE IT WAS UGLY, POV Finn (Star Wars), POV Outsider, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Soft Ben Solo, Trials, and rey loves ben so much, basically they love each other a lot okay, he loves rey so much, im the queen of awful titles sorry, i’m sorry if this sucks don’t hate me, possibility for continuation, this took on a life of it's own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23381017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodyhalefire/pseuds/bloodyhalefire
Summary: Just as Finn is about to turn the corner, he hears voices and stops dead in his tracks: the voices are unmistakably Rey and Ren’s.(39. "don't cry.")
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: 100 ways to say i love you [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1098828
Comments: 32
Kudos: 104





	everything will be okay (i promise)

**Author's Note:**

> i love them so much ok

Finn feels more tired than he’s ever felt in his life—most of Ren’s trial was today, tomorrow only serving as a time for last remarks and for the jury to meet.

He had been sitting in a courtroom for 10 hours writing notes and hearing testimonies from all types of people; despite the fact that most of them were bad and rightfully incriminating, both Lando and Rey testified in Ren’s defense, much to the shock and indignation of most of the jury _and_ those watching.

Just as Finn is about to turn the corner, he hears voices and stops dead in his tracks: the voices are unmistakably Rey and Ren’s. But that doesn’t make any sense considering Ren is supposed to be in a cell right now and nobody that isn’t authorized personnel has access to it, so Finn peaks his head around and Rey is actually _inside_ the cell with him, which makes absolutely zero sense. But before he can focus too much on that, his attention is drawn to the conversation the two are having.

“It’ll be fine,” Ren is saying carefully, and it doesn’t escape Finn’s attention that he’s speaking deliberately slow, like if he doesn’t speak gently enough he’ll scare her and she’ll bolt. “Everything will be fine.”

“No, it won't,” Rey vehemently whispers back, and it's only when he sees her angrily swipe at her cheeks that he realizes she’s crying. “Everything _won’t_ be fine and you know it. We both saw the council and their reactions today. They’re going to vote for your execution, I know it, and I won’t be able to—“ her words cut off as she chokes on a quiet sob.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Ren whispers, and it’s so quiet that Finn has to strain to hear it.

She takes a few shuddering breaths before responding. “You’re innocent, Ben, so stop trying to be such a kriffing martyr all the-“

“Innocent?” Ren interrupts softly, one eyebrow raised. Finn thinks the expression looks almost comical on his face considering the only expression he’s ever seen on the man’s face is anger; though lately, it’s mostly just been completely blank and unreadable. “Nobody is innocent in this, especially not me. You of all people know that.”

And at least there’s something the two of them can agree on, if nothing else.

“You’ll be fine after I die, I promise,” he continues, “You’re one of the strongest people I know. Besides, you have so many people that look up to you, especially since they all discovered that you killed Snoke and Palpatine—“

“Shut up!” Rey yells, her voice echoing off the walls, causing Finn to jump and effectively shutting Ren up. “It was _you_ that killed Snoke and—“

She continues speaking, but after that statement everything around him becomes white noise. It was Ren that killed Snoke? Why didn’t they tell the court today? Why did he do it in the first place? And, again, _how the hell was Rey in his cell?_

“—you also saved me, Ben,” Rey’s voice was now soft, “I would’ve become one with the force if you hadn’t come to Exegol. You saved my life and helped me kill Palpatine. You’re a hero.”

Once she’s finished, Rey heaves an exhausted sigh as she walks backwards a few steps until her back hits the wall. She slowly slides down it, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her forehead on them. It’s an almost pitiful sight to behold, and Finn’s heart aches in his chest just looking at her. “It just isn’t fair.”

Ren chuckles humorlessly as he walks over to her and crouches down. He places his hand on her head and softly begins to softly run his fingers through her hair. “Look at me, Rey.”

Her only response to the request is to shake her head from where they rest on her knees.

_“Sweetheart,”_ he urges gently, and Finn is having a difficult time reconciling the completely different light that this exchange has been painting Ren in; it’s giving him a headache. “Look at me.”

Rey finally looks up at him upon hearing the whispered endearment, and even from here he notices the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. She’s weakly glaring at Ren; Finn can’t see Ren’s expression since he’s not facing him, but it’s easy to assume that the look on his face is one of affection. “You’re right—it isn’t fair. But there is not a single this about this that is. Rey,” Ren says with a sigh, “the time that I have been given to be with you since our arrival here has been the happiest I can remember being in what feels like forever. Of course I wish we had more of it, of course I do, but the short time we _have_ had is far more than I deserve.”

And it’s the complete and utter acceptance that’s throwing Finn off—Ren seems to be completely at peace with the fact that he will die tomorrow. He isn’t fighting it and he doesn’t believe he deserves anything less. It goes against everything Finn has ever believed the former Supreme Leader to be like, no matter how many times Rey has tried to tell him otherwise.

“I just wish that you would’ve let me tell the court about our bond and what happened on the Destroyer. Or at the very least the whole truth about our fight with Palpatine on Exegol,” Rey says, and for a second Finn wonders how anyone could tell Rey not to do something and have her actually listen, especially if that person was Ren. “If they knew they would understand, at least a little. Ben, please, it isn’t too late for us to—”

“No, Rey,” Ren cuts her off, “I can’t let you do that. Not only could it result in your friends and the public losing trust in you, but it could also put you in danger. Dying is only a small price to pay for preventing either of those things from happening to you.”

Rey opens her mouth to object before she startles and turns around, though what she’s looking at Finn has no idea. “Someone’s knocking at the door. I have to go,” she says, and simply saying those words make her tear up again.

Ren sighs gently as he stands, reaching out a hand to Rey to help pull her up. Once they’re both standing, Rey grabs the collar of his shirt with both hands and pulls him down for a kiss. Ren makes a soft noise of surprise before completely melting into it, pulling her close. Rey is grasping at him like he’s going to disappear if she isn’t careful, which Finn supposes isn’t too far off.

For some reason that thought makes him feel almost _guilty._

Once they pull apart, Ren cups Rey’s face in his hands, the pads of his thumbs gently wiping the new round of tears that are falling from Rey’s eyes. He then gently places a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Rey laughs at the words, though it sounds much more like a sob; the expression on her face can’t be described as anything other than completely shattered. “Okay.”

Then she steps away from him and slowly fades away, a sad and wobbly smile on her face. Finn is seriously having a difficult time grasping what the hell just happened, but he’s a bit more focused on staring at Ren; as soon as Rey has completely faded from sight, Ren collapses onto his bed. He has his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, and though he’s not quite crying, he’s certainly not _not_ crying.

Finn seriously has no idea what to do with all of this information, yet he has the feeling that there’s even more he _hasn’t_ discovered; all he knows now is that he’s certainly not tired anymore, and definitely has a lot to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this! if you want me to continue (like write the trial itself, write the proceedings the next day, write finn's contemplations, etc.) i'm totally open to writing it!! just lmk
> 
> anyway, comments and kudos are my lifeblood, so please leave one if you enjoyed this! also feel free to drop by my tumblr mysticdevils and leave my prompts or just to talk about them and geek out lmao
> 
> EDIT: i know that i said this in almost all of my responses to your comments (which, again, mean the world to me thank you so much), but if there's something that you would personally enjoy seeing in this series just let me know--i am ALWAYS open to suggestions (feel free to comment here or come to my tumblr mysticdevils).


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